Cartunes - Music box toy cars

ABSTRACT

An educational and entertaining toy vehicle that includes a body member that is designed for including a mechanical music box. The music box is designed so it is coupled via a ratchet clutch and gears to at least one vehicle wheel. The forward rotation of such wheels drives the music box. Reversing the vehicle winds a spring. This spring drives the music box and vehicle forward on release. The release of said spring is controlled by a speed regulator. The toy vehicle of this invention includes rubber like material on the surfaces of the wheels with debossed numerals, letters or symbols. These replaceable rubber like tires provide increased friction and a means for printing such debossed characters when the vehicle is moved. The toy vehicle is further enhanced by including a toy figure that is representative of the included tune.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/238,278 filed Aug. 31, 2009, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to educational toy vehicles and more particularly pertains to a new toy vehicle assembly that plays a musical tune. The vehicle is also equipped with a means to print numbers, letters or symbols.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

The use of toy vehicle assemblies that include electronic sounds and lights is well known in the prior art. The use of musical boxes is also well known to be used with dancing figures, jewelry boxes and snow globes.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,459 Akiyama Sep. 28, 1976 describes a toy musical vehicle with a motor driving an air musical instrument.

While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a toy vehicle that produces a musical tune without the use of batteries and electronics by the use of simple mechanical means. Further there remains a need for a design that captivates the attention of a young child while providing educational benefits of music, mechanics, number sequence and letter and symbol recognition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In The present invention meets the needs presented above by incorporating a unique mechanical music box into a toy vehicle. By making the musical box visible it provides the young child user an opportunity to observe and learn simple mechanical principles of motion and simple gears and an understanding of an old method of storing and playing musical tunes

Further the musical box is coupled to at least one wheel so producing a musical tune during movement of the invention, thus the musical box does not need winding up as in the previous art. It also provides a young child a reference to the correct speed of a tune when the vehicle moves forward powered by the included spring, so they can emulate it when moving the vehicle forward by themselves.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new toy vehicle that includes interchangeable rubber like treads on the wheels with numbers, letters or other symbols debossed on their surface which can be printed, providing another opportunity for education and entertainment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new toy vehicle assembly presenting a novel eye-catching conversation piece. This is further enhanced by including a detailed figure in each vehicle that is specific to the included tune.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new musical toy vehicle that does not require batteries or electronics.

To this end, the present invention generally comprises a new musical box design with a vehicle body member that is designed for attaching the music box. The music box assembly is designed so at least one wheel of said vehicle is coupled to it. The rotation of said wheel drives the musical box to produce a tune.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a new toy vehicle assembly according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 thereof, a new toy vehicle assembly embodying the principles and concepts of the present invention and generally designated by the reference numerals will be described. As best illustrated in FIG. 1, the musical box assembly includes a base member 10 that is adapted for inserting into the under side at position 20 of a wood toy vehicle 190. Positioned substantially in the base member are the components of the musical box. In this design the music box base or bedplate as it is often called consists of vertical walls between substantially flat top and bottom surfaces. It is attached to the underside of said vehicle 190 with screws through internally positioned screw holes 15. Further attachment screw holes on the opposite side are not shown. The long parallel sides 16 of the musical box thus become the sides of the vehicle 190 when attached. This design reduces the cost of manufacturing said vehicle 190 as no complex milling of the wood vehicle body is required and the musical box assembly can be installed as a complete unit. The flat sides of the bedplate 16 provide a surface that is ideal for debossing text onto, further reducing the overall cost of the toy vehicle. In one embodiment of the present invention the music box assembly can be seen from the top view of the vehicle 190 by means of a transparent plastic hood 200 and the addition of a hole cut vertically through the vehicle body from below the hood to the musical box.

The musical box assembly of this invention further comprises of a drive axle extending from position 50 to position 55 transversely to and supported by the bedplate 10. This drive axle connects the components of the musical box and the vehicle front wheels 30. It is knurled 70 on the outer ends to aid in attaching said wheels 30 so the wheels 30 are fixed to the axle and turn with it. On either side of said knurling 70 is machined a groove for the insertion of retainer washers 60 that prevent lateral movement of said wheels 30. Alternatively the outer ends of the axle could be threaded so a washer and nut combination not shown can fasten the wheels 30 to said axle. Further the drive axle includes a spur gear 80 that is meshed with a spur gear 90 that is positioned axially to the center of the music box drum 110. Although straight spur gears are depicted, helical spur gears are preferably as they are more robust and smoother. The gear ratio between the gears 80 and 90 is preferably approximately four to one, so four revolutions of the wheels 30 turns the musical box drum 110 once. With 36 mm diameter wheels 30 and 40, the vehicle will need to travel 452 mm to rotate said drum 110 once, thus playing the included tune once. This distance is the approximate distance that a small child can move a hand holding the toy vehicle of this invention in one continuous motion without the need to reposition their body. If the wheel size was much smaller it would be preferable that the wheel axle 50 to 55 utilize a worm gear to mesh with the spur gear 90. In this embodiment of the invention the music box spring and speed regulator would have to be connected directly to the wheel axle as they could not drive a worm gear in reverse.

The gear 90 positioned axially to the music drum 110 and riding on the same axle not visible in FIG. 1 incorporates a ratchet tooth on the side facing the crown ratchet gear 100 attached to the music drum. This ratchet tooth engages the crown gear 100 when the vehicle moves in the forward direction rotating the music drum. The ratchet tooth slides over the teeth of the crown gear when the wheels are rotated in the reverse direction thus preventing the rotation of the music drum. When the music drum 110 is rotated the projections on its surface pluck the corresponding tines of the musical comb 120 thus producing the musical notes of the tune. This musical drum and ratchet system is well known and the present invention uses these widely available parts thus reducing costs.

In the depicted embodiment of this invention the musical box assembly also incorporates a spring in the housing in 140 and a speed regulator in the housing 160. The spring 140 and speed regulator are also well known in the music box industry and are not explained in detail here. The embodiment of the present invention however does use the spring and speed regulator in a novel and unique way with the addition of a ratchet crown gear 150 attached to the axel of the spring gear 140. This ratchet crown gear can be of the same design as the previously discussed crown gear 100. The spring gear 140 is wound up when the toy vehicle is reversed, not by a key as is common in music boxes. When the vehicle is moved forward the axle 50 rotates in a clockwise direction when seen from the right side and gear side of the vehicle. The axle gear 80 drives the drum gear 90 in a counter clock wise direction. The drum gear 90 is meshed with the spring gear 130 and drives it in a clock wise direction. The ratchet, not shown, of the spring gear 130 will slide over the teeth of the spring crown gear 150 and the spring will not be affected. When the vehicle is moved in a reverse direction the spring gear 130 moves in a counter clock wise direction with its attached ratchet tooth engaging the spring crown gear 150 and winding up the spring. When the toy vehicle is released the stored energy potential of the spring 140 drives the spring crown gear in a clockwise rotation. The ratchet tooth of the spring gear 130 remains engaged to the crown gear 150. The clockwise rotation of the spring gear 130 drives the music drum gear 90 in a counter clock wise direction thus engaging the music drum 110 via the ratchet crown gear 100 and the drum and music comb 120 will play the tune. The music drum gear 90 will in turn drive the axle gear and the vehicle will move forward. The speed at which the spring 140 unwinds is controlled by the speed regulator 160.

The present embodiment of the music box provides an opportunity for a child to learn the correct timing of a music piece by providing a means for the tune to be played at the correct speed by the unwinding of the included spring and an opportunity for the child to emulate it by moving the toy vehicle forward manually.

The present embodiment of the invention also includes special wheels 30 that have a groove 35 in their perimeter to receive rubber like tires 40. These rubber like tires 40 which can be made of various materials and in various colors provide additional function to the toy vehicle by creating greater friction to the surface the toy vehicle is moved on which is particularly desirable when the vehicle is moved in reverse to wind up the spring 140. The tires 40 also prevent scratching of the playing surface from the wheels 30, especially if they are made from wood. The tires 40 of the present invention can be removed and replaced with various designs that can be smooth, treaded or include designs such as letters, numbers and artistic symbols debossed on their perimeter surface 45.

The tires 30 with debossed symbols 45 provide a unique means for a toy vehicle to be used as an educational tool to facilitate the learning of the alphabet, number sequence, length measurement and other possible options by having the tires run over an ink or paint pad and then printing the debossed details 45 of said tires 40 as they are rolled on paper or other material that the ink can be transferred to.

The present embodiment of the wood toy vehicle 190 includes a toy FIG. 170. The toy FIG. 170 is designed to characterize the music tune of the music box included providing an entertaining toy, for an example an astronaut is used with the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars” or a Santa Claus with the tune “Here Comes Santa Claus”. Since the present invention uses a similar vehicle design with many different tunes and minimal packaging to reduce costs, the toy vehicles and the associated music tunes can be recognized at a glance via the characters. There are thousands of music tunes available so a series of vehicles is to be produced. The toy FIG. 170 is further enhanced for interactive play by having bendable arms 180 and a head that swivels.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention. It is also relatively apparent that variations in gear ratio and the attachment of mechanical links to one or more of the rotating parts herein to animate the vehicle toy figure is possible.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention. 

I claim:
 1. A toy vehicle wherein the molded rubber surface of the tires is replaceable and can contain debossed characters and symbols which can be printed on a surface after rolling over an ink or paint pad.
 2. A toy vehicle assembly that includes a mechanical music box.
 3. The assembly of claim 2 wherein said music box includes at least a musical drum and a set of combs.
 4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein said music box also includes a spring, a speed regulator and ratchet gear.
 5. The assembly of claim 4 which is coupled to at least one wheel of said vehicle.
 6. A toy vehicle assembly of claim 4 that produces a tune when said vehicle is moved forward.
 7. The assembly of claim 4 wherein said music box spring stores potential energy when said vehicle is moved in reverse. When said vehicle is released said energy drives the vehicle forward while playing a tune. The speed of such motion is controlled by said speed regulator.
 8. A toy vehicle assembly that includes a transparent hood or other surface areas that allows the music box and related gearing of the assembly in claim 4 to be seen. 